Columbia Law Review
Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox journal The Columbia Law Review is a law review edited and published by students at Columbia Law School. The journal publishes scholarly articles, essays, and student notes.
It was established in 1901 by Joseph E. Corrigan, who served as the review's first editor-in-chief, and John M. Woolsey, who served as its first secretary.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The Columbia Law Review is one of four law reviews that publishes the Bluebook.
History
The Columbia Law Review represents the school's third attempt at a student-run law periodical. In 1885, the Columbia Jurist was founded by a group of six students but ceased publication in 1887.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Despite its short run, the Jurist is credited with partially inspiring the creation of the Harvard Law Review, which began publication a short time later.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The second journal, the Columbia Law Times was founded in 1887 and closed down in 1893 due to lack of revenue.Template:Sfn
Publication of the current Columbia Law Review began in 1901,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> making it the fifth oldest surviving law review in the US. Dean William Keener took an active involvement during its founding to help ensure its longevity.Template:Sfn
Nakba article
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} In June 2024, the journal published an article by Rabea Eghbariah, a Palestinian human rights lawyer, titled "Toward Nakba as a Legal Concept", which criticizes the "brutally sophisticated regime of oppression" of Palestinians "[a]cross Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem, and refugee camps" by the Israeli government. The article aims at creating an international legal framework for the Nakba similar to genocide and apartheid.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The article also refers to the Arabic term "al-Nakba," which "is often used ... to refer to the ruinous establishment of Israel in Palestine."<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
The same day that the article was published, the Review's board of directors shut down the Review's website and replaced it with a message stating that the site was "under maintenance". Later that day, the Review's student editors published the article on a publicly accessible web site, as a free PDF file.<ref>Article was posted at https://static.al2.in/toward-nakba-as-a-legal-concept.pdf</ref> Two days after the website was shut down, the editors voted to go on strike. The next day, the board of directors restored the Review's website, including Eghbariah's article, but added a statement explaining that the website was shut-down due to the "secretive" nature of the editorial process.<ref>Board's statement is at https://columbialawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/STATEMENT-FROM-THE-CLR-BOARD-OF-DIRECTORS.pdf</ref> The editorial board disagreed with that assertion and stated that the editorial process was comparable to that used for all other articles.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>"Columbia Law Review student editors to strike after directors intervene with article on Nakba" Ayaan Ali June 6, 2024 Columbia Spectator https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2024/06/07/columbia-law-review-student-editors-to-strike-after-directors-intervene-with-article-on-nakba/</ref>
Impact
Among United States law journals as of 2025, Columbia Law Review is ranked #1 by Washington and Lee University Law School<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and as of 2023, #4 by a professor at the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Columbia Law Review was the top-cited law journal during the 2018 Supreme Court term.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
According to the Journal Citation Reports the Columbia Law Review had a 2009 impact factor of 3.610, ranking it third out of 116 journals in the category "Law".<ref name="WoS">Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Update needed In 2007, the Columbia Law Review ranked second for submissions and citations within the legal academic community, after Harvard Law Review.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Update needed
Notable alumni
Template:Unreferenced section Notable alumni of the Columbia Law Review include:
- U.S. Supreme Court Justices
- U.S. Courts of Appeals Judges
- U.S. District Courts Judges
- U.S. Solicitors General
- Chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission Mary Jo White
- Director of the CIA William Colby
- U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara
- Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Director of the National Economic Council Stephen Friedman (PFIAB)
- Columbia University president Lee C. Bollinger
- Columbia Law School deans
- Young B. Smith
- Michael I. Sovern
- Barbara Aronstein Black
- Columbia Law School professors
- Herbert Wechsler
- Oscar Schachter
- Walter Gellhorn
- Harvey Goldschmid
- R. Kent Greenawalt
- Gillian E. Metzger
- E. Allan Farnsworth
- University of Pennsylvania Law School professors
- Geoffrey C. Hazard Jr.
- Howard Lesnick (Editor-in-Chief)
- Amy Wax
- Yale Law School professors
- Duke University School of Law professor George C. Christie
- Michigan Law School professor Mark D. West
- New York University Law School professor Samuel Estreicher
- Berkeley professor and criminal law scholar Sanford Kadish
- New York Governor George Pataki
- Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax
- Two-time SEC General Counsel David M. Becker
- NBA Commissioner David Stern
- New York Supreme Court Justice Aron Steuer
- Prominent attorneys
- Authors
Selected articles
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